So I’m pretty massively behind on my Google Reader feeds, and finally found some time to take a look today, and boy was I glad I did. The Hidden Side of a Leaf had a post about Paperspine, which is more or less the Netflix for paperbacks. I tried valiantly for about five minutes to not run for my credit card, before giving in and signing up. I’ve topped my queue with a bunch of challenge books that I know are supposed to be in the library, but hadn’t been available the last few times I visited. So here’s hoping it’s worth the money. At $14.95 a month for two books at a time, with unlimited theoretical books per month, it sure seems like it could be worth it, considering that’s the going rate for one trade paperback. Heck, at the very least, it’s just in time for my week-long vacation, a time I traditionally try to consume at least five books whole.
Speaking of challenges, I suppose now is as good a time as any to do a mid-year challenge review.
I’ve finished one challenge: the Once Upon a Time II challenge.
I have not started one challenge: the Soup’s On Challenge. I had the best of intentions with that one, but hit a time/energy snag with everything going on at work. It runs through next March, and Fall is when I often ramp up on the cooking, so I’m not going to worry about that one for now, and assume I’m still participating.
I’ve decided to abandon one challenge: the Graphic Novel Challenge. I never made it onto the challenge blog, and have been too lazy to rectify that, and Dewey will be running it again next year, so I think I’ll preserve the list (I only read one of the books I chose, very early), and maybe try again next year.
I’m puttering along with the remaining three challenges:
I’m about halfway done with the Young Adult Challenge, and was starting to get hung up on availability. Paperspine will probably solve that problem, so I’ll probably be moving ahead with that soon. I am thinking about keeping one book back for the RIP III challenge, so probably won’t finish before then.
Once I finish Inkheart, I’ll be one book away from finishing the Mythopoeic Award Challenge. I have one book on the list that would work for the RIP III challenge, that I think I’ll hold aside, as I have a couple other options on the list and could then finish this challenge. I will admit to feeling a bit of challenge overload, so should probably try to finish at least one more challenge fairly soon, and this is the most logical choice.
I’m a bit behind the TBR Challenge, if I’m trying to stick to the one book a month model. I completely blame my long slog through The Idylls of the King for that, and I’m resolved to at the very least read three more books from the list by the end of July. After that, I’m going to try to stick to one book a month from this challenge.
That’s it for now. I am planning to the do the RIP III challenge, but other than that, haven’t really seen anything else to strike my fancy lately, though I suspect that may change by Fall. Depending on what else opens up, I may try to speed up my YA and TBR challenge reads, but for the moment, I’m pretty happy with my progress.